BIODIVERSITY IN POOR AND SEVERELY POOR FORESTS IN QUANG NINH PROVINCE

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess the biodiversity of canopy forest tree species in forest stands of two forest types, poor forest and severely poor forest, in Quang Ninh province. The study was carried out a survey of 24 temporary random sample plots, which were evenly distributed across three main areas as the Eastern, Western, and Central regions of the research site with the use of the latest forest dynamics data in 2024 in this study. With a total area of the forest stands of 60,728.0 hectares (accounting for 50.62% of the total natural forest area), these forest states exhibit specific biodiversity characteristics. The structural complexity of the poor forest is higher than that of the severely poor forest, both when considered overall for each forest state and individually for each area (higher in Complexity Index - CI), but it has a lower species mixture level (lower in Mixture Index - HG). The analysis of three biodiversity indices-Simpson, Shannon - Weiner, and Rényi entropy-reveals that the biodiversity level of canopy tree species in the poor forest is higher than in the severely poor forest. However, these differences were not found to be statistically significant, and species diversity remained comparatively low and localized to specific areas. A total of 26 types of uses were documented for the woody tree species in the study area, with the primary use being timber extraction. In light of these findings, it is necessary to pay more attention to forest conservation and development, particularly through the implementation of appropriate silvicultural techniques to contribute to sustainable forestry development in Quang Ninh.